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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(San Jose, Costa Rica)

For Immediate Release
May 8, 1997

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT WELCOMING CEREMONY OF
CENTRAL AMERICAN LEADERS SUMMIT

National Theater Plaza
San Jose, Costa Rica

10:27 A.M. (L)

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Thank you very much. President
Figueres, thank you for bringing us all together. And to my
fellow leaders from Central America and the Dominican Republic,
thank you for coming. To all of you, to our distinguished
guests, to all Ticos and all the people of Central America, let
me say, es realmente un nuevo dia. (Applause.)

Less than a decade ago, much of the Americas was
still dominated by civil war, repression and hopeless poverty.
Today, we celebrate the advance of peace, growing prosperity and
freedom across our hemisphere. And we honor the remarkable men
and women of Central America who helped to lead the way.

When the history of our region and our time is
written, it will record your courage and your strength in ending
four decades of conflict, braving the threat of bombs and bullets
to cast ballots, embracing the challenge of economic reform, and
opening the door to a new era of partnership among all our
nations.

President Figueres, in that epic struggle, Costa
Rica, this nation of brothers, has been a wise leader and set a
powerful example. Waging peace as tenaciously as others have
waged war, Costa Rica has shown that a country does not need an
army to be strong. (Applause.) We thank Costa Rica and its
leaders for building a vibrant democracy that takes care of its
citizens and shoulders its responsibilities in the world.

Three years ago, our hemisphere's 34 democracies met
in Miami at the historic Summit of the Americas to secure the
hard-won gains our nations have made, and to make them work for
all our people. Today in San Jose, in the first summit between
the leaders of the United States, Central America and the
Dominican Republic in almost three decades, we stand before you
united in our course determined to advance together to help the
daily lives of our people in better jobs, safer streets, cleaner
air, brighter hopes for our children and their future.

We are here to help our economies grow, and to grow
closer by opening our markets, protecting our workers and sharing
more fairly the benefits of prosperity. We are here to give all
our people the tools to succeed in the global economy by making
good education the birthright of every citizen of every country
here. (Applause.)

We are here to strengthen our democracies by
standing against the criminals, the drug traffickers, the
smugglers who exploit open borders to threaten open societies and
we are here to protect our future by launching new efforts to
prevent pollution and protect our precious natural environment.

When President Kennedy came to Costa Rica more than
three decades ago, he said, "Every generation of the Americas has
shaped new goals for democracy to suit the demands of a new age.
Our generation must meet that challenge, and we must do it
together. We know that we must not be just neighbors, but real
partners, working together in a spirit of friendship, equality
and mutual respect."

My fellow citizens of the Americas, that is the
partnership we have come here to build. Here in the heart of our
hemisphere let us go forward into a bright new century full of
unlimited possibilities for our young, knowing that to realize
those possibilities we must go forward together.